Lake Louise, Alberta - Golden, B.C.

This morning I cycled from Lake Louise, Alberta to Golden, British Columbia, the first leg on my trip from Lake Louise to Kelowna.  

My plan is to bike from Lake Louise to Golden; Golden to Revelstoke; Revelstoke to Enderby; and Enderby to Kelowna, staying in motels along the way.  I have a WestJet flight booked for Thursday, August 13, 2015, out of Kelowna.  

I arrived in the village of Lake Louise late yesterday afternoon on the Greyhound from Edmonton via Calgary.  The bus trip had gone smoothly and my bike was in mostly good shape when we got to Lake Louise.  I had lost a piece of my rear rack, which meant I no longer had anywhere to mount my rear reflector, but otherwise everything went back together nicely.

I checked into the HI Lake Louise hostel.

The rest of the afternoon I spent cycling along the river--

--and up to Lake Louise itself.

I woke up at 7:00, having slept poorly.  I had three roomates in the hostel dorm, and all three snored, so I was eager to wake up and get out of there.

I did linger over breakfast at the hostel's marvelous cafe, where I had also eaten dinner the night before.  It was a cold, cold morning, and I had less than 100 kilometres to travel, so I was in no rush to actually get started.  

It was 8:00 once I finally left, and it was 8 degrees Celsius outside.  The morning was beautiful though, and wonderfully quiet and peacful.  

I left the village of Lake Louise via this pedestrian bridge that crosses the Trans Canada highway.

I actually started off slower than I would have expected, but I crossed into British Columbia and Yoho National Park before 9:00.

From the border I started making excellent time, and really enjoyed the ride.  The tourist traffic did not start until much later, so I felt like I could relax and take in the spectacular views.

Coming down the Kicking Horse pass and along the Kicking Horse River into Field was especially memorable.  For much of the way, and after Field as well, I could simply coast and travel at over 40 kmph.

Because of this I made better time than I expected, and arrived in Golden not much after 11:00!  

The Ponderosa Motor Inn let me check in when I arrived, which was nice.  I relaxed the rest of the afternoon, did laundry at the laundromat, and did a little exploring around the town, including finding this neat pedstrian bridge across the Kicking Horse River, pretty much just north of where the Kicking Horse meets the Columbia River.